CHINESE DEMOCRACY

Even despite my long-stated hatred for Guns 'N' Roses (and Axl Rose in particular) I still feel that it is important to point this out to the adoring masses (i.e. the majority of my friends who constantly ridicule me for aforementioned hatred) that CHINESE DEMOCRACY HAS A RELEASE DATE!!!

According the Universal Records, for the moment, Chinese Democracy is being released November 22 (along with new Kanye West, The Killers and Jay-Z), or if you live in the U.S. November 25.

BestBuy.com is currently taking pre-orders for the long-awaited GUNS N’ ROSES album “Chinese Democracy” at this location. According to the site, the album will be released on November 25 and will be made available on CD and vinyl format. Furthermore, fans have a choice between three different CD and LP covers, although exact details have not yet been revealed.

Billboard magazine reported last week that “Chinese Democracy” would be released on Sunday, November 23 via an exclusive deal with Best Buy. To whet fans’ appetites, so to speak, the group’s label will reissue its classic 1987 debut, “Appetite for Destruction”, in a new vinyl edition on October 28. One new GUNS song, called “If The World”, can be heard in part over the end credits of the film “Body of Lies”, which opened this past Friday (October 10), while another track, “Shackler’s Revenge”, will make its debut on Rock Band 2 at the end of this month.

The last all-new GUNS N’ ROSES releases were the 1991 double albums “Use Your Illusion I” and “II”. Since that time, every single original member of the band except for singer Axl Rose has departed.

“Chinese Democracy” has been in the works since the mid-’90s, with speculation and mystery surrounding the album’s 13-year journey, ever-changing roster of players and spiraling recording costs.

Keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who joined in 1990 and is the longest-serving member after Rose, told The Pulse of Radio a while back that he thinks fans will be pleased when they finally get to hear the results. “It’s a pretty intense musical journey, really,” he said. “Everyone that is in the band, or was in the band at some point — ’cause there, you know, there’s been a few guys who have come and gone even since the old band — has contributed, and because of that I think it really takes you to some interesting musical places. When you add Axl and guitars, of course, though, it kinda glues it all together. There’s something for everybody, but I think if you’re a GUNS fan, if you’re an Axl fan, you’ll like it all. You’ll love it all.”